We thought we’d slow down. Then Chile put its hand up.
From our early days of getting ISBT together by knocking on doors to tell our story, the most telling developments have come from email enquiries from people asking if we teach in their area, city, or country. Hong Kong is a good example. Wonderful things came after an enquiring email.
While not being as successful for our work as Hong Kong, some worthwhile courses, friendships and/or travel experiences have developed after Emails inspired contact.
A few years back we had decided to cut back on the amount of travelling we were doing and started to ease into looking to see how we could spend more time in Salema. Portugal’s a relatively small country but there’s lots to see and experience. We live on the coast and are keen on fishing, so we bought a little RIB, an inflatable boat. Then we got an Email from a physiotherapist in Chile.
To make a long story of The Boat short, it was eventually very neglected and wasn’t in good condition when someone stole it from a place where a little work was to be done on it. We never got to go out fishing in it. But we did get to go to Chile. Several times.
Because we had been working in Brazil and were hopeful of that kicking on, it was ideal for courses in Chile to be arranged. We were as much excited about actually going there as we were about teaching, of course.
The physio was keen to get us there, so he arranged a few people for an exploratory first module. This was down near Vina del Mar on the coast. We ran a small course and got around a bit promoting what we do. It didn’t interfere too much with our travel plans.
The coastline along from the port city of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar is wonderfully active. We stayed in a hotel on the coast that was cleverly built up the side of the sloping coastal mountain. Our room near the top was reached by a series of lifts and short walks. From our windows we overlooked the coast, the view dominated by a small rocky island only a couple of hundred metres from the coast. And what an amazing island it is. And what an interesting smell when the wind blows the wrong way. Sea lions and birds various had made the rock their home.
A little further along the coast there were some restaurants, beautifully placed overlooking the water. From there we watched an amazing sea lion and seabird feeding frenzy taking place about 200m from where we sat. Check out the video we took in the video page..
This set the scene for ongoing travel in Chile, from Atacama to Patagonia…i.e. from one end to the other. I’d like to say that our courses have taken off there but the best I can manage is to say they, at least, set us up for some unique travel experiences. It was important to have our priorities right.
More on Chile to come.
